


but you were history

by albion



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Asthma, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Choking, Flashbacks, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-12
Updated: 2014-04-12
Packaged: 2018-01-19 01:52:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1451014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/albion/pseuds/albion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lifetime ago, Bucky Barnes used to be the one to help him breathe.</p><p>Now look where they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	but you were history

**Author's Note:**

> For Kit, on her birthday.  
> Don't kill me.

Every muscle in his body is screaming at him, and he can feel his own blood seeping out. It’s uncomfortable, it’s nerve-wracking.

 

But it won’t kill him.

 

Not yet.

 

What might kill him right now is currently caught between his chest and his bicep, losing air and wheezing and is still, despite everything, struggling fiercely with an inhuman power.

 

Steve was always lighter than Bucky. Then he was heavier.

 

Now it seems he’s lighter again.

 

The Soldier—no, _Bucky,_ is reaching desperately for the chip and Steve is hauling him away by the neck, gasping and squeezing and wishing so desperately that he didn’t have to do this.

 

Bucky manages to shove an elbow into Steve’s gut and he grits his teeth harder.

 

He’s acutely aware of the glass underneath them, of the roaring of the wind around them and of Bucky’s awful wet choking noises. He can’t breathe. Bucky can’t breathe. He’s killing his best friend, but he has to do it. He has no other choice.

 

Now Bucky’s turning purple with the lack of oxygen, as if he were having an asthma attack, and it all comes back to Steve in a sickening rush of nostalgia.

 

_“Hey, hey bud, you okay now?”_

_Bucky sets Steve down carefully on the concrete step, squatting down in front of him, one hand set reassuringly on his left shoulder. Steve grips his knees so hard he sees his knuckles turn white, and he thrusts his head down between his legs and breathes deeply. Again. And again. And again._

_“You alright Steve?” Bucky asks again, and Steve takes another breath before nodding._

_“I’m…” he wheezes. “I’m alright. Just gimme a moment.”_

_“As long as you need. You shouldn’t have tried to take on that bully you know. You know he was out of your league.”_

 

_“But not out of yours, is that right?”_

_Bucky sighs, reaches out his left hand, and lifts Steve’s chin. “That’s not what I meant. I meant don’t go getting yourself into fights you know you can’t win.”_

_“I_ can _win them. When you’re there,” Steve replies caustically, and Bucky moves his hand away. “I couldn’t just stand there and let them torment that girl. I had to do_ something. _”_

_Bucky looks at him for a long moment, as if analyzing Steve’s words with his eyes. Then he nods._

_“I know,” he sighs. “I can’t stop you, Steve. I just wish you’d be a bit more careful, okay? You can’t go running an awful lot, not with your asthma. You sure it’s alright now?”_

_“Yep,” Steve gasps. “I think so anyway. I get them so often, I think I’m used to it.”_

_“Just don’t die on me,” Bucky laughs. “I ain’t letting Steven Rogers die on me from something as low-grade as a goddamn asthma attack.”_

 

The Winter Soldier shudders and opens his mouth and tries to take in more air, and Steve uses the inhalation of his chest to constrict his arms further against his gut. The Soldier wheezes, turns an even darker shade, and finally slumps boneless in Steve’s arms. Steve drops him, and ignores the way the sight of Bucky’s body limp and lifeless on the glass pane makes his heart split in two.

 

He wants to grab him and make sure he’s still breathing, but instead Steve grabs the chip and launches himself upwards.

 

_“I feel like getting something to eat, you up for it?” Bucky asks, and Steve nods. He takes the outstretched arm gratefully, and pulls himself to his feet. He only reaches up to around Bucky’s chest. It still bothers him, and Bucky knows it._

_“Thanks for back there,” Steve says, as Bucky throws one heavy arm around his shoulders and maneuvres him away towards the main street._

_“Don’t even mention it,” Bucky replies, in that light, easygoing voice. “I’ll always be here to help you if you need it. I’m with you till the end of the line, pal.”_

 

“Till the end of the line,” Steve Rogers whispers, and feels the Soldier’s bullet hit his body.


End file.
